11 Facebook Marketing Tips That Will Leave Competitors in the Dust

To say that everyone is on Facebook wouldn’t be too far from the truth.

The social giant’s 2 billion active users and millions of business pages represent the ultimate stomping ground for marketers looking to draw attention to their brands.

And with 53% of users claiming to be “always on” Facebook, the platform boasts the most rabid user-base of any social platform by far.

While there’s certainly plenty of attention to go around on Facebook, the competition for your prospects’ valuable time and attention is fierce.

That’s why marketers must pay particular attention to how they treat their Facebook presence. Oftentimes it’s the more subtle aspects of your content strategy or page setup that could make the most difference in terms of performance.

We’ve outlined 11 Facebook marketing tips that are fair game for just about any brand looking for more love from existing fans and new followers alike.

1. Perfect Your Profile Picture

First impressions count.

Given that your brand’s profile picture represents the first element potential followers will likely see when they interact with you via search or comments, imagery is an important piece of your Facebook strategy.

With 180×180 pixels to work with, brands should strive to keep their profile pictures simple. Cramming a ton of text or compressing a massive image into such a small space doesn’t exactly scream “stylish.”

High-quality close-ups and headshots are common for those running a solo brand. Seth Godin’s profile picture is a good example of this:

Meanwhile, clean company logos with a minimalist vibe also work as displayed by Hubspot:

If you want followers to treat you like a pro, you need to look the part. The takeaway here? Don’t just slap any old picture on your profile and call it a day. Put some thought into it.

2. Spice Up Your Cover Photo

Taking up a significant chunk of real estate on your page, your cover photo effectively sets the tone for everything below the fold. In addition to a high-quality image, cover photos are a prime place for brand slogans and calls-to-action as illustrated by ThinkGeek:

You don’t necessarily need to be a graphic designer to achieve the same sort of look with your own page, either. Digital marketing tools such as Landscape can help you whip up a sleek brand cover in a matter of minutes.

Also, Facebook recently introduced cover videos to grab the attention of visitors. Animoto’s cover video is a shining example of this fresh feature in action:

With video lengths between 20 and 90 seconds while working within the 820×312 pixel limit for covers, there are plenty of options for brands to be creative. Among our list of Facebook marketing tips, this feature is still relatively untapped by brands so don’t be afraid to experiment accordingly.

3. Don’t Neglect Native Video

The domination of video has been a long time coming. Eye-catching, entertaining and capable of stopping scrolling users in their tracks, video represents the ideal way to encourage fans to spend more time engaging with your brand.

It’s not as simple as slapping up the occasional YouTube video into your feed, though.

According to Adweek, native video on Facebook is favored by the platform’s algorithm and receives exponentially more comments and shares as a result. Whether it’s a live Q&A or tutorial-style content like this video from oVertone, consider how you can start incorporating video content into your feed in some way, shape or form.

4. Post More Than Just Links

Some posts fall flat while others receive crazy amounts of engagement. What gives?

Diversifying your content distribution represents one of the biggest Facebook marketing tips for brands looking to show up in their followers’ feeds.

For starters, posting solely self-promotional content isn’t going to do much to rile up your current followers or drum up new ones. While there’s nothing wrong with linking out to your blog or products, external links shouldn’t be the only source of your content.

Conventional wisdom also tells us that Facebook prefers posts that stay within their walls, so to speak. That’s why incorporating solely text-based, photo or videos posts into your feed versus constantly linking out is a smart move.

This question-based image post from Loot Crate is a great example of a non-promo post that drives engagement:

5. Pay Attention to Image Sizes

Facebook does most of the legwork for us when it comes to the overall design and formatting of our pages.

That said, optimizing the images for your posts, links and previews is on you.

For example, do you know how your Facebook page looks on desktop versus mobile? Are visitors missing out if they’re visiting you via smartphone?

Much like your profile and cover photos, social image sizing deserves your attention for your entire Facebook page. In short, don’t change up images or post links on a whim without ensuring they look clean. Again, it’s all about keeping up that strong first impression.

6. Optimize Your Post Timing

On Facebook, timing is everything.

An essential piece of optimizing engagement isn’t necessarily a matter of what you’re posting, but rather when you’re posting it.

Optimizing your post timing doesn’t have to mean posting in real-time, though. With the help of social scheduling, you can set up your Facebook to automatically push content during peak engagement hours.

Scheduling your posts in advance is a must-do for brands looking to tick all of the boxes of what makes an effective Facebook presence. Not only can you post when your followers are most active, but also ensure that you’re diversifying your content output rather than just going with the flow.

7. Double-Dip Your Facebook Content

Not all Facebook marketing tips necessarily apply to the realm of Facebook alone.

Brands should take steps to funnel as many of their current visitors, past customers and other social followers to Facebook. Think about your email list. Blog traffic. Instagram followers. Why aren’t they part of your Facebook funnel?

The key is finding opportunities to double-dip your content beyond Facebook. Some common examples include the following:

Including social media buttons on your homepage and throughout your email campaigns

Considering the sheer amount of time users spend on Facebook, turning your current leads into long-term followers should be the ultimate goal of any brand.

8. Speed Up Your Response Time

Sometimes standing out among your competitors means providing the best customer care.

People have high expectations from brands when it comes to responding to their questions and concerns. In fact, the average consumer expects a response from brands within four hours on social media.

So don’t let your comments section gather cobwebs. While you can’t be everywhere at once, you should make a conscious effort to respond to alerts and notifications rather than sleeping on them. Doing so shows that you value your followers’ time and could be the difference between losing a potential customer or follower for good.

The need for speedier brand responses signals yet another reason why social scheduling is so critical. By having your content sorted out in advance, you can focus more on follower outreach and engagement versus scrambling for a new post.

With Sprout’s Smart Inbox, you can quickly respond to comments and questions from your customers on Facebook from anywhere.

Still don’t have enough resources to respond to all of your inbound messages? Learn how a Facebook Messenger Chatbot can help speed the process for you.

9. Don’t Ignore Your Analytics

As part of putting these Facebook marketing tips into action, make sure that you’re keeping a close eye on your social analytics.

Analytics clue you in on which type of content gets the most clicks and impressions, helping to optimize your Facebook strategy in regard to which types of posts drive engagement.

If you find that you’re spinning your wheels or your audience isn’t growing, chances are it’s time to make a change.

But until you look at your presence by the numbers, you’ll never know.

10. Experiment with New Ad Formats

Marketers are taking advantage of Facebook’s highly-targeted ad platform like never before and seeing huge returns as a result.

That said, if you haven’t spent some serious time experimenting with Facebook’s ad creator, you need to carve out some time to see just what it has to offer.

Just because you ran a static ad a few years ago to no avail doesn’t mean you should give up on Facebook advertising. For example, creative formats such carousel ads represent a interactive means of marketing to new fans and followers.

From video ads to promoted posts and beyond, Facebook ads afford flexibility and features like no other social ad platform out there.

11. Hone in Your Ad Targeting

Many first-timers make the mistake of trying to run an ad that’s way too broad and quickly blowing out their budget as a result. Facebook ads allow you to get ultra-granular in terms of targeting location, demographics and interests, meaning brands can zero in on a specific audience versus settling for a shot in the dark.

In addition to trying out new ad formats, honing in on your target audience may take some time. Given the ROI of Facebook ads, though, doing so is definitely worthwhile in the long run.

Which of These Facebook Marketing Tips is Your Top Priority?

Fine-tuning your Facebook marketing doesn’t necessarily require an entire overhaul of your page. In fact, many of these tips could be implemented sooner rather than later for brands looking to quickly improve their Facebook presence over their competitors.

So, which of these tips would you personally look to implement first? Any other pointers that we might have missed? Let us know in the comments below!

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Published on December 20, 2017

Brent Barnhart: Brent Barnhart is a professional writer and content critic. When he's not battling the latest buzzwords, you can often find him strumming the nearest guitar. Feel free to bug him on Twitter or check out his website (brentwrites.com)